Lu Bu, the Thunder General, is my adoptive father in Genshin Impact.

Xiao Yi remained silent and walked to Sha Luo's side.

Sara activated the Eye of God to create a seemingly exaggerated but actually powerless bolt of lightning in his palm, and slapped it towards Xiao Yi's back. Xiao Yi tacitly unleashed his power, and his eyes emitted lightning.

The two were like a magician, one a magician and the other a shill hidden among the audience, working together to deceive the unsuspecting onlookers.

To the onlookers, it seemed as if the adopted son had truly transferred his power to the passing Liyue person, whose eyes were now flashing with an extremely intimidating celestial light.

Shaluo patted Xiao Yi on the shoulder: "How does it feel to share one percent of my authority with you?"

"I feel full of power!" Xiao Yi said in agreement.

“Go, and don’t let me down,” Sara continued her act. “Rescue the lady.”

Kaeya and the knights beside them, including Mayura who was not far away, were all stunned.

Xiao Yi adopted a crouching starting stance, staring at the nervous fake Yura like an eagle. At this moment, Narutoko planned to take advantage of Narutoko's prestige and show off.

Chapter 168 Executive Officer, Doctor

After cooperating with Sara to perform a "magic trick" of randomly selecting passersby, Xiao Yi crouched down on the ground, and dazzling lightning began to flash around him. Nearby knights couldn't help but retreat to avoid the electric current, and passersby raised their hands to shield their eyes.

Xiao Yi couldn't help but admire Sha Luo's wit, which gave him excellent room to maneuver without arousing suspicion from those around him, and also helped him rescue Yan Fei.

Of course, the fake Yura who was holding Yanfei hostage wasn't blind either. When she saw this, she gripped Songlai's hand tightly and started sweating, to the point that her whole arm began to tremble with tension.

In reality, she was afraid of the bully Saro who was using her position to intimidate her, and dared not harm the hostages at all. However, she wanted to find a chance to escape, and her heart was filled with a desperate hopelessness that she could not escape.

She felt she should do something, at least to deter the other side and stop them from making any rash moves.

The fake Yura glared angrily at Xiao Yi and shouted, "Don't move, or I'll..."

Suddenly, the hissing sound from Xiao Yi's body disappeared without a trace, as if the powerless threat had worked. Considering the safety of the hostage, he stopped taking action.

Wow!

The cessation of the electric current was merely the calm before the storm. The next moment, Xiao Yi and the sound disappeared together, leaving only the flickering electric light remaining in the spot.

At this moment, Xiao Yi had transformed into a ball of lightning, moving like a cannonball at a speed that humans could not react to, circling around and crashing into the fake Yura behind Yan Fei.

Before the fake Yura could react, she was knocked away by the lightning ball that suddenly appeared in her face. The fake Hua, disguised as a female knight, and Xiao Yi, who had transformed into a lightning ball, rushed into the forest behind them. The pine tree that she was holding tightly did not harm Yan Fei, but instead swirled into the sky and fell towards the crowd.

The onlookers were dumbfounded. Most of the people present were skilled knights with excellent dynamic vision, and they had been specially patrolled, yet none of them could see Xiao Yi's movements. Yan Fei, who had been rescued, was even more dazed, wondering where the hostage-taker had suddenly disappeared to.

However, this will not expose Xiao Yi's identity, because of the impromptu script of Sara, everyone thought that he was so strong because of Narutoko's on-site transmission of power.

Therefore, all the praise and amazement were focused on Shaluo, which, in a rounding-up manner, was equivalent to praising Xiao Yi for being awesome.

“I have a feeling that this speed isn’t due to the transfer of power.” Zhen Youla’s intuition told her that things weren’t so simple. “But I have to admit, this guy is fast.”

In short, the hostage situation was resolved smoothly. The only threat now is Song Lai, who is spinning in mid-air and descending due to gravity. This heavy weapon was thrown from Xiao Yi's hand when he charged at the fake Yura. If the armored knight is hit by it, it will not be a minor injury.

As we all know, to be an excellent bystander, in addition to having the ability to see and hear everything around you and having good eyesight, you also need to have quick reaction skills to avoid being caught up in the incident while watching the drama unfold and instead becoming the drama yourself.

Upon seeing the giant sword falling towards them, the crowd immediately dispersed, leaving a circle for the sword to fall.

However, the greatsword did not land. Yura, who was carrying Wugong, had already jumped off her horse and rushed into the deserted Songlai landing spot. She leaped and caught the falling greatsword, then spun her body like a dancer to slash down and disperse the sword's power.

Yura landed smoothly, picked up her long-lost old friend, carefully examined the incredibly familiar and magnificent sword blade, and a satisfied smile appeared on her face.

Immediately afterwards, she composed herself and hung Song Lai on her back, overlapping it with the Wugong sword. The ropes that were specially used to bind the greatsword bore a weight that it should not have had to bear.

Yura looked towards the forest where Xiao Yi had transformed into a ball of lightning and disappeared into. The onlookers and knights were also staring in that direction.

……

Xiao Yi, carrying the fake Yura, crashed into the forest. As he traversed the path, large swaths of leaves fell from the surrounding trees due to the electric current. They crashed almost from the edge of the forest to the center before finally stopping.

The speed finally dropped to zero, and the fake Yura sat down on the ground with a thud. The electric current surging through her body caused her muscles to twitch, making it impossible for her to move normally. Even getting up was a luxury. Xiao Yi, whose eyes were blazing with lightning, stood in front of her, like a god looking down on a tiny mortal.

Startled by the electric shock, the fake Yura's tense mind cleared up. If this guy had gained such speed through his adopted son's power transfer, he could kill her in the blink of an eye. Why did he push her into the depths of the forest, away from those menacing knights?

Could it be that he just gained power and isn't yet adept at using it? No, if that were the case, he would have already been smashed to pieces or roasted by a high amount of lightning element.

"Is there anything you want to say?" Xiao Yi asked.

Fake Yura turned her head away.

"Hmph! What can I say now? I disguised myself as the Knight of Favonius, Yura Lawrence, and even kidnapped an important foreign guest. In the end, I can only be tried by the Knights, the Church, and the people of Mondstadt according to Mondstadt's laws—just like what she was nagging about when she kidnapped the lady!"

“I know very well that Mondstadt is lenient and rarely executes humans, but I am not human, and I also know that they are merciless towards monsters. In the end, I will only turn into a pile of honey, so that I will be bought by nobles to make tea.”

“Rather than accept this fate…” the fake Yura said, “Go ahead and kill me, do it right here.”

Xiao Yi shook his head: "I don't want to kill you."

The fake Yura grasped at a glimmer of hope, thinking her guess had come true, but she still kept her head turned away to avoid losing face and dignity.

"If you don't kill me, are you going to let me go?" Despite pretending to be stubborn, the fake Yura couldn't help but reveal a hint of expectation and the joy of grasping at a straw.

"I will neither kill you nor let you go." Xiao Yi extinguished the fake Yura's hope as easily as stubbing out a cigarette butt, leaving her with an equal amount of doubt.

"You won't kill me, but you won't let me go either. What do you want?!" The fake Yura was slightly displeased.

“I want to get some information from you.” Xiao Yi found a nice tree stump nearby. The lightning on his body disappeared, and he walked over and sat down next to the tree stump. “I suddenly remembered that the fake Yura I saw last night seemed to call you a traitor before she was captured.”

"This means you have an organization behind you, and you are not entirely loyal to that organization, at least not recently, so I think it's possible to cooperate with you."

"Does this benefit you?" Fake Yura couldn't believe it. "You've always been detached from the situation, so why did you choose to cause trouble to help me?"

Xiao Yi thought to himself: Ever since that letter from the Lawrence family was sent to my wedding, I'm no longer an outsider!

But Xiao Yi certainly couldn't say that. He had to find a suitable reason to persuade the other party. Xiao Yi took out the double-sided coin that Zhong Li had given him, placed it between his index finger and thumb on his left hand, and flicked it up and down several times.

“As I said before, I’m a helpful guy and I’ll offer you some assistance,” he said, feigning sincerity. “Although you’re not the real Yura, I can sense that you’re radiating a sense of misery, like a little kitten shivering in a storm. It’s hard not to do something about it.”

"Besides, this is also trouble for Narukami's adopted son. After all, Lawrence is giving 'Yura' to him, which is by no means a simple act of currying favor. And I just happened to become acquainted with him by some twist of fate." Xiao Yi continued to maintain his persona, just like a pure profit-seeking businessman. "If I can solve my adopted son's troubles and gain his favor, wouldn't my business in Liyue flourish?"

"Besides, he really enjoyed using the power he borrowed from me, and he wants to try it again."

Xiao Yi's false identity and lies to the fake Yura were contradictory yet contained a degree of truth—he was both a philanthropist who was happy to help those in need and a businessman who was eager for money, which was quite in line with the complex human nature of this complex world.

The fake Yura stopped turning her head with an arrogant look and instead lowered her head in disappointment.

"My problem isn't that simple. With your abilities and background, you simply can't solve it." Touched by Xiao Yi's feigned sincerity, she lost all hope of living. "You should take my corpse to Narutoko to claim your reward. Once you've received it, leave Mondstadt and don't get involved in this matter. Don't let greed ruin you..."

“You want me to kill you? I won’t. You can beg me, but I won’t.” Xiao Yi raised an eyebrow. “Although you’re essentially a con artist, you’re at least portrayed as a strong female knight. Why do you keep talking about dying and other depressing things…”

"Tell me the truth, just like that night. Maybe there's still hope for you."

Unable to dissuade Xiao Yi, the fake Yura had no choice but to slowly tell her story, her true story.

A group of strange scholars, for reasons unknown, used the properties of the liar flower to create rare liar flowers in the form of Yura. Their laboratory has dozens of cultivation chambers, which have produced at least a hundred blue-haired female knights, but less than ten have actually been put into use.

The rest are either difficult to control or have physical defects, and can only accept the fate of being eliminated and destroyed in batches.

The fake Yura in front of Xiao Yi is the forty-seventh one cultivated, and she is a qualified product that can be put into use. The people who created her call her No. 47.

The creator manipulated advanced instruments to instill Yura's memories and thoughts, as well as the Lawrence family's elegant combat skills, into the useful Deceitful Flowers. Although the Deceitful Flowers' memories and thoughts were incomplete and could not compare to a genuine noblewoman knight, they were enough to fool those around them.

After all, the imitation function of the cheating flower has been scientifically improved, and it can even replicate the effect of the God's Eye. How could unsuspecting friends think in that direction?

The creator did not tell the Deceitful Flowers their specific tasks, but only ordered them to infiltrate the Lawrence family and induce the family to contact Narukami's adopted son, become his concubine, and infiltrate his side, and then wait for further instructions.

Since the orders were set in the consciousness of the Deceitful Flowers during the manufacturing process, they would not disobey any instructions and would imitate Yura to complete tasks like zombies or machines, without even knowing where their creator belonged.

However, even the best-laid plans can go awry. Among the seemingly qualified mutated flowers, a mutated variant actually appeared.

That's number 47.

While the real Yola was away in Mondstadt, enjoying a relaxing trip to the snowy mountains, Number 47 involuntarily disobeyed the creator's order to lie in wait around the city and impersonated Yola to enter Mondstadt. Although most residents disliked the surname Lawrence, a small number of people, as well as members of the Knights of Faith, treated Yola with kindness.

As the imposter felt the warmth of human friendship and the beauty of Mondstadt, it gradually grew dissatisfied with its imposter status and began to harbor the idea of ​​taking its place and possessing everything for itself.

Coincidentally, the creator discovered the true Yola's exact location and issued an order to the fake Yola (number 47) to enter the snow mountain and assassinate the true Yola.

For some reason, she didn't do that. When the pine tree that stole Yura started playing, she created a false trail towards Liyue and then returned to Mondstadt.

Since then, Number 47 has broken free from the organization's control, replaced the real Yola Lawrence, and continued to live in Mondstadt with her "former" habits.

She knew the real product could return at any time, and the manufacturer would come after her, so she lived a seemingly ordinary life, but in reality, she was always living in fear.

As it turned out, none of what happened afterward was what she had anticipated.

After the genuine item was sent to Liyue, there was no further news of it. The creator did not intend to clean up the abnormal Pseudoflowers, but instead proceeded with the original plan.

So, one day, when No. 47 went to the snow mountain to investigate the whereabouts of Mayura and returned, he found that he had been "reserved" by his family for Narukami.

She knew very well that these were her kind, acting in accordance with the will of the Creator.

As No. 47 plays the role of Yura, her thinking becomes more and more like Yura's original self. Of course, she doesn't want the creator's conspiracy to succeed and cause her to lose everything she has now. She just wants to live her life according to Yura's original life trajectory.

So, without the knowledge of her friends, Number 47 secretly fought against the mysterious creator, frantically searching for traces of her kind, and using Songlai's advantages to eliminate them one by one to ensure her legitimacy.

Therefore, on the carriage, she would tell Xiao Yi what had happened and agree to his help.

"You don't know who the creator is?" Xiao Yi asked.

“We are treated as tools, our only function is to receive and carry out instructions,” Yura47 said sadly with self-mockery. “There’s no reason to tell information to a tool, especially since it’s easy to leak secrets.”

……

Inside the pitch-black cave, sophisticated instruments were displayed.

Various pipes, both metal and glass, crisscross the area, transporting large quantities of liquids and gases to essential instruments, enabling the large factory to operate smoothly.

In the shadows, a blurry figure sat in a chair, holding a document in his hand, seemingly oblivious to the fact that reading in such an environment would strain his eyes.

A muscular man, 1.5 times the height of an average person, approached the chair. He carried an iron can on his back, from which green liquid was injected into various vital parts of his body through a thin, transparent tube. The veins bulged at the connection between the tube and the flesh.

The burly man reported respectfully, "Executor, Doctor. Our spies outside have just obtained intelligence that the original body, which we initially suspected was dead, has suddenly returned to Mondstadt. Traitor Number 47 has fled in panic and taken Narukami's wife hostage."

The man in the shadows laughed, a laugh that was unusually grating and unpleasant.

"Hahaha, number 47, what an interesting sample. But since that's the case, I'm afraid she's already been blasted to death by Narukamiko on the spot. Do the spies have any records, any data about Narukamiko's abilities?"

The burly man shook his head: "Unfortunately, Naruto didn't take action, or rather, he disdained to do it himself. He found a Liyue merchant who was present, transferred a very small portion of his power to that merchant, and ordered him to rescue the kidnapped lady."

"Oh?" The man addressed as Doctor seemed even more pleased. "How was the businessman's performance?"

"He saved his adopted son's wife with a speed imperceptible to the naked eye," the burly man replied.

The doctor's mood brightened even more, and he said excitedly, "Sounds like a good guinea pig. Perhaps by dissecting him, we can obtain a way to deal with Narukami's adopted son, and even obtain the method to kill a god—you have three days to capture that Liyue merchant!"

Chapter 169 Master Xiao, the Great Philanthropist